BV Report free essay sample

Bottega Veneta (BV) is an exclusive luxury brand established in 1966 in Vicenza, Italy, which is quite famous for its hand-made luxury goods (Kering Group website, 2013; Bottega Veneta website, 2013). Since the establishment, BV has always been focusing on its extremely high product quality using best materials, relying on Vicenza’s traditional craftsmanship, producing incredibly great products. Now Bottega is a global luxury brand providing a varied product chain including leather goods, which is the core product chain of Bottega, ready-to-wear, shoes, fragrance, furniture and has become the second most profitable brand among Kering Group’s (former PPR Group) luxury family (Kering Group Annual Report, 2012). We will write a custom essay sample on BV Report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Through hiding visible logo, BV has built up a brand reputation of â€Å" understated luxury†. Its iconic design, ‘intrecciato’, which is based on an extremely complicated leather waving technique, has become the signature of BV instead (Interbrand website, 2013). To reinforce its brand reputation and spread its brand philosophy, Bottega launched its slogan as ‘when your own initials are enough’ in 1970s to further emphasise that it is the clients themselves instead of the luxury brands make people differentiated (Kering Group Annual Report, 2012). Strength Support from Kering Group BV belongs to Kering Group, which is quite professional in running luxury brands. It has successfully been running some famous luxury brands in Britain, including Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent and so on (Kering Group Annual Report, 2012). With the sophisticated direction and sufficient financial support provided by Kering Group, BV has performed quite well in British market. Consistence of extremely high quality BV has been always concentrating in its amazing product quality. Highly relying on traditional craftsmanship in Vicenza, Bottega always consists on using best materials to maintain the consistence of incredible quality (Kering Group Annual Report, 2012). Unique brand position strategy BV is specially targeted to a niche market that quite a few affluent people are seeking for fantastic products and experiencing the fabulous feeling of enjoying an exclusive luxury lifestyle, instead of simply trying to use luxury brands to show their social status (Sanderson, 2013; Walker, 2013). Its brand reputation of understated luxury highly matches the needs of these people and therefore attracts a host of fans. Continuous product adjustment Bottega continuously adjusts and diversifies its products. It launched an eco-friendly product chain in 2012 and has attracted a number of environmentalist consumers (Kering Group Annual Report, 2012). Weakness Lack of recognisable logo Through hiding logos, Bottega has established an understated luxury reputation and attracted numbers of consumers. However, without a recognisable logo, it is relatively harder for BV to impress consumers and promote effective marketing communication. Its signature design, intrecciato, was initially highlighted in 2001 by BV’s latest creative director (Walker, 2013), Tomas Maier, and therefore is not iconic or recognisable enough as well. Intense competition Due to BV’s unique position strategy, there is no direct competitor also hiding logos or emphasising the importance of clients yet. However, price-related competitors are many, including other super-premium price brand (Moore and Birtwistle, 2005), such as Hermes, and relatively low price brand, such as Burberry and Prada. Rigorous requirement in craftsmanship Bottega has been highly relying on Vicenza’s traditional craftsmanship. It can take its artisans up to 15 years to learn to weave its leather products, such as Cabat series handbags (Sanderson, 2013). Although BV has created an artisan school in 2006 (Sanderson, 2013), the rigorous requirement in craftsmanship still restricts its speed of expansion. Opportunity Positive economic forecast According to the prediction of RBC, the euro-zone economy grew in the second quarter 2013, ending Europe’s longest economic recession since Second World War (Forelle, 2013). This will reinforce the confidence of investors globally and facilitate the domestic consumption of consumers in Europe. Furthermore, Ledbury Research (2013) predicted that the size of UK luxury market would double in the next five years, from ? 6. 6 billion in 2012 to ? 12. 2 billion in 2017, which indicated an optimistic outlook of all luxury brands operated in the UK, including Bottega. Effective and diversified distribution channel in Britain BV has established an effective distribution system in the UK, consisting of 2 directly operated stores in London, several boutiques in selective high-end shopping centres such as Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nichols (BV website, 2013). Besides physical stores, online store is also available in Britain. In addition, a new joint venture created by Kering Group and Yoox Group, which is a specialist in online retailing for leading fashion and design brands, will provide a better online shopping platform for BV (Kering Group Annual Report, 2012; Yoox Group Annual Report, 2012). Threat Lack of brand awareness in China According to Ledbury Research (2013), Chinese buyers are the third largest consumer group in British luxury market and therefore it is quite essential for each luxury brand fighting for this segment (China. org. cn website, 2013). However, compared with Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci, which are the top three popular luxury brands among Chinese consumers (Bain POV, 2010), BV urgently needs to increase its brand awareness in China. Rising cost of raw materials Bottega has always been highly relying on leather materials, as leather goods are its core products. However, the cost of raw materials rises every year, especially some valuable furs such as crocodiles (Thomas, 2013). To maintain the consistency of BV’s incredible quality, seeking for finest materials in an acceptable price becomes even harder. Leather boycott by animal-protection organisations Leather boycott is a common problem facing by every leather goods producer. How to minimise its bad impacts is still a practical question for BV. Recommendation According to the SWOT analysis, we provide 3 main recommendations: Increase advertising expenditure Through increasing advertising expenditure, we strongly recommend BV to further highlight its signature, intrecciato, and maximum its brand awareness as its signature is still not iconic enough and especially among Chinese consumers, Bottega is a relatively unfamiliar brand. More targeted to Chinese buyers in Britain As Chinese consumers are the third largest luxury consumer group in the UK, we also recommend Bottega to provide more convenience to them, such as hiring Mandarin speakers in stores, launching more convenient payment facilities targeting Chinese buyers. Expand investment in eco-friendly products To reinforce its brand diversification and decrease the negative effect of leather boycott, Bottega should increase its investment in eco-friendly product chain and launch more varied eco-friendly products in the future. References